After briefly calculating the fifteen- to twenty-foot drop, I swing over the railing. It’s going to suck, but I’ve endured worse falls.
I drop, tuck, and roll.
My ankle sings like a tenor who just got kicked in the balls, and I grit my teeth through the sharp ache.
Pain comes and goes.
Survival is for life.
Bullets ping off the floor next to me, and I twist to the side. I’m just a few yards from the door.
Dimitri focuses on Nika and worries his bottom lip. Only when he notices me does he reach for his gun.
I’m on him before he can react.
The collision drives him backward into the doorframe. The crack of wood under him is nothing compared to what follows. Each impact eases some of the tension in my gut.
I hit him harder.
Dimitri’s nose explodes under my fist. He curses as hot blood splatters over my skin, and his foot snaps up as he tries to drive the door into my face.
I dodge the strike by sidestepping.
This man framed Sasha. He stole Nika from her family. Destroyed Roman’s heart and kept him suffering in hell. Dimitri killed MJ and spent the last year tormenting my people.
Now he’s trying to take Nika from us—from me—again.
Ducking under his short jab, I catch his forearm. Then I bring the heel of my other hand up, hitting his elbow. The radius and ulna snap, cracking under my palm.
Dimitri’s arm folds backward.
He unleashes a high-pitched scream, his eyes wide as he stares at the jagged bone pressing into his flesh.
That draws a smile from me.
Grabbing his shoulder, I yank him close to my chest. Wrapping my arm around his throat, I catch that fist in the crook of my other arm and start squeezing.
Dimitri’s mouth opens, but I don’t allow him enough air to speak.
I bear down harder, cutting off the attempt. “You’ve done enough talking.”
“Let him go, or she dies.” The younger blond man, Anton, tightens his grasp on Nika, pressing a knife to her neck.
Fuck.
Fear curls in my chest.
Nika’s eyes are wide with fury, blood leaking from her mouth. How the hell did he get her? The knife slides along her throat until a thin crimson trail trickles down.
Rage and indecision hit in equal measure, stilling my arms.
Seconds tick by as the world narrows to this choice.
This moment.
End Dimitri, the man who orchestrated everything, or save Nika.
Sasha’s ghost demands justice. Demands that I finish what I started, that Dimitri pay. And he’s not the only victim in need of vengeance.
